


Beast Wars: Rebirth

by sisterawesomeness



Series: Beast Wars: Eri Saga [7]
Category: Transformers: Beast Wars
Genre: Big Brothers, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, Toddler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-06
Updated: 2016-09-29
Packaged: 2018-05-31 13:31:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6471892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisterawesomeness/pseuds/sisterawesomeness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It seems those aliens are always meddling with something. This time is no exception as an artifact changes Eri into a child! What will the Maximals do? And what happens when the Predacons find out?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Flash

**Author's Note:**

> **Yes I am going to continue Eri's main story. I'm just taking a short break before I start season 2 because trust me. Shit will go down in season 2. Until then I wanted to do one or two shorts.**
> 
> **Own nothing but Eri.**

"Was it really a good idea bringing that thing into the base?" Rattrap asked eyeing the small statue. It looked like a tiny tree. But it obviously was made out of metal and had strange markings on it like the others had.

"We couldn't leave it out there for the Preds to find," Cheetor stated.

"He has a point," Optimus said. "But I am worried about precautions."

"There hasn't been any activity," Rhinox reported. "I've done numerous scans and there's nothing. No energy or odd activity. It might as well be an ornament."

"Then can we toss it out?" the rat inquired.

"I would like to do a few more tests."

"Hm. If you don't find anything we'll put it in storage," the Prime stated. "Until then we'll have to be careful."

"What's going on guys?" Eri asked walking in with Dinobot. "Is that?" Before she could say anything the raptor snarled, picked her up, and turned so he was blocking her from the object. "Dinobot!" she lightly struggled.

"What's caught in yer gears Dinobutt?" Rattrap looked.

"Impudent fool!" he returned. "Do you not remember what those relics tend to do in Eri's presence? I will not risk losing her again."

"They have been known to do odd things," Optimus noted.

"He has a point," Cheetor stated.

"Alright," Rhinox spoke up. "Dinobot, you and Eri stay clear of this thing. I'll comm you and let you know when I'm finished and it's safely in storage."

"Thank you Rhinox," she looked over the raptor's arm at him.

~*~

An hour later.

"Really?!" Rattrap called out. The base lightly shook from the forced of the lightning outside. "Where did this storm even come from?"

"Why didn't the sensors warn us?" Cheetor braced himself against his seat.

"It's here now," Optimus stated. "Rhinox, you Cheetor and Rattrap go out and secure those loose panels we've been working on. Dinobot, you're with me in securing the extra weapons. Eri I need you to keep on the scanners and keep an eye on this storm. Tigatron, Airazor back to base. Now."

Everyone gave an answer as they ran to do what he said. As the bots scrambled no one noticed the relic still in its holder on the control panel.

As the others were in the ship or outside she was alone in the room with it. But it didn't do anything. "This storm looks nasty guys," she told them. "Tigatron, how far out are you guys?"

"We are only a mile from the base. We will be there soon."

"How you doing Cheetor?" she asked then.

"We're nearly done," he told her. "Should be in before the rain hits."

"Hey watch it!" Rattrap said and she heard a clang over the line.

"Just be…" Right as she said that there was an audible 'crack' even from inside the ship. As lightning struck it. "Ah!" she pulled away from the controls. Electricity ran through it and even went into the control panel. Where it struck the artifact.

"Oh man," Eri looked at everything. "Sentinel do a reset."

"Understood," the computer told her.

"Hope it didn't fry anything."

The artifact behind her began to glow green as the pictures on it lit up.

"What…" static erupted on the line for a moment. "Was that?" Cheetor finished.

"Light…" Optimus broke up. "Must've hit."

"It did," Eri said. "I'm rebooting…" She had a funny feeling as she turned. In time to see the artifact completely powered up. And that's when it shot a green bolt of light at her.

"Eri?" Cheetor tried. "Can you repeat… That? You're breaking…"

Nothing.

"Kiddo?" Rattrao tried.

Still nothing.

"Eri?" Dinobot called.


	2. Uncles, Auntie, and Big Bwother

It didn't take long for the Maximals to finish up what they'd been doing and run into the control room wondering why Eri wasn't answering them. What they found nearly blew all of their logic sensors. They found a bundle that had been Eri's clothes. And inside that bundle was a small mass moving around. Then the tiny being managed to poke it's head out of top of the shirt and look around at all of them. And giggled.

"What?" Cheetor looked at the others in a state of shock. "Is that…"

"Eri?" Rattrap spoke up.

"Tee!" was the reply.

"What," Optimus started.

"It was that infernal artifact!" Dinobot snarled. "I knew it!" He went to grab it.

"Wait, Dinobot," Optimus stopped him. "We need it to see how this happened to Eri and how to reverse it." The raptor backed off. "In the meantime," they all looked as the toddler meandered about their feet.

Just then a sound could be heard as the elevator came up. Bringing Tigatron and Airazor with it. "Wow," the femme looked at the group. "What did we miss?"

"Kitty!" Eri called out and ran to the tiger. She went right up and started petting him. Giggling the entire time. "Birdie!" she saw Airazor.

"Would someone please explain?" Tigatron looked to them.

~*~

Shortly.

"So what do we do?" Airazor asked. She and Tigatron had transformed and the tiger was lightly bouncing Eri up and down on his knee as he sat. She laughed like it was the funniest thing ever.

"Rhinox will see if there's a way to reverse this," Optimus said. "Until then… We'll just have to watch out and take care of her."

"Oh boy," Rattrap sat down. "I don't remember signing up on this adventure to babysit."

"Come on," Airazor looked at him. "How hard can it be?"

As it turned out harder than they thought. At least for some members of the team. Everyone had a shift and took their turn looking after the toddler. Except for Rhinox seeing as he was the one trying to figure this latest mystery out. It was somewhat odd for them because Eri didn't remember any of them and was acting like a sparkling. Though it was strange seeing her as a toddler anyway.

Tigatron and Airazor seemed like naturals. They could easily keep Eri entertained, busy, or from crying. They had pretty good timing when it came to things like when she should eat, take a nap, and go to sleep for the night. But even they had monitor duty or go on patrol now and then.

Which meant the others had their turn.

Cheetor didn't know how to really stop her from crying if she fell or was just crabby. But he did know how to keep her entertained. "Hey Eri!" he smiled at her. "Watch this!" he transformed into his cat mode.

The toddler stopped crying and smiled as she got up and went over to him. They'd patiently explained to her that they were still themselves in their other modes. But it seemed to blow the toddler away every time. "Kitty!" she'd still act as though they were animals but they learned to deal with it. "Ride!"

"Well alright," he lowered himself so the toddler could climb on. "But hang on kiddo. Big brother Cheetor goes fast." Though he wouldn't go that fast seeing as he had a toddler on his back and they were inside the base.

"Fast! Fast!" she repeated. He did a fast walk up and down the hallways. All the while Eri kept saying, "Again! Again!" and he would until she got so tired she threatened to fall off.

~*~

Later.

Rattrap had never looked after a sparkling before in his life. So he didn't have the instincts the tiger and femme seemed to possess. And he wasn't as young as the smaller cat. So he didn't have that youthful energy to have a fun mindset. It took him a while to get the hang of it.

"So… Kiddo. What do you wanna eat? Beans or apples?"

"I want candy," she told him.

"Sorry but we don't have any candy Stargirl. So beans or apples?"

"Candy," she firmly repeated and frowned from her makeshift child seat over the control panel.

"Kiddo we don't…" Then he had a thought. "Well then. If you're not gonna eat 'em. I might just them all myself," he slightly turned away from her and made a show of 'eating' them. "Um! These are the best in town."

Eri peeked over and looked. He kept it up. "Too bad you don't want any kiddo. I think I'm gonna eat 'em all up right now."

"Apple!" she called out and tried to reach across. "Want apple!"

"Now now," he told her. "What do we say?"

"Apple pwease," she gave him a sad look.

"Aw. How can I deny a cute little face like that?" he went about cutting it up small enough so she could easily eat it. Afterwards she looked at him. "Hey Eri, you wanna play a game?"

"Game! Game! Wha kinda game?" she asked as he picked her up.

"Well this game I like to call cyberpoker." Airazor later remarked how adorable the two of them were with Rattrap sitting in his chair. Eri sat in his lap but leaned back and was fast asleep.

It was shortly following that Eri gave most of them nicknames. Cheetor was 'big bwother' while the rest became 'Uncle Rattwap', 'Uncle Tiger', and 'Auntie'.


	3. Games and Nights

Considering they were partners the Maximals tried to make it so Dinobot didn't have to babysit Eri too much. It seemed off. But there were times the raptor found himself with her. At first Eri seemed intimidated by his demeanor. Rattrap joked it was like how they were back when they first met. The raptor hadn't laughed but snarled at him for that.

Dinobot was in a weird position. Seeing his partner as a toddler was not something he believed he'd ever see. It hadn't even been in his realm of possibilities. But here they were. No matter what form Eri took he still cared for her. And he'd watch over and protect her as long as his spark was online.

Didn't make him the best playmate. He was overtly paranoid and often told her not to climb on things or run too fast because she'd fall. Rattrap called him a downer. But even with all that Eri became more open to the raptor seeing as he wasn't mean like she thought he was.

"Pway!" she held her arms up to him.

Dinobot paused. What exactly was he supposed to do? What did she want him to do? "What is it… You want?" he finally asked.

"Dinobwot pway game," she said and still reached for him to pick her up.

"What type of game?" he didn't but looked at her.

"Fun game!"

"I do not know any games."

"Uncle Rattwap say you fight Pwedacons. That they bad. We pway that!"

He narrowed his optics. He'd have to have a word with the rat later about what topics were appropriate for her young mind. "How would we do that?"

"Uncle Rattwap say you was a Pwedacon. But you nice now. You pway the Pwedacon and I be the Maximwal." She smiled up at him and lightly grabbed onto his leg.

He vented. How was he supposed to deny that hopeful bright face looking up at him like he was some sort of hero? "Very well. What are the rules?"

She stuck her tongue out of her mouth in thought. "Oh! Oh!" she got an idea. "You twy to get to the contwol room. And I stop you!" She let go of his leg. And stood there.

He did chuckle at that. How did she expect to stop him? He was larger than her when she was an adult. Let alone a young protoform. But still he slowly took a step forward.

"Back! Back! Pwedacon!" Eri took on as stern a voice as her little body could muster as she held her hand out and stood there in front of him proud.

Honestly it reminded him oddly enough of the Prime. He wondered how observant she was as he merely stepped around her. "Oh my," he chuckled at her. "What little Maximal believes she can stop me?"

"I will!" she jumped onto his leg. She tried climbing him and slide down. She was relatively stuck to his leg but she held on firmly. "Stwop bad Con!" she yelled out.

"You'll have to do far more than that little one," he casually walked with her down the hall. He turned the corner and it was only a few feet to the control room. "Do you admit defeat?" he asked her.

"Neber! I stwop you! Good guys win!" she squeaked with her effort of hanging onto his leg. As if she could mentally stop him from moving forward.

The raptor knew it would be easy. So easy to just continue walking down the hallway. She barely weighed anything. And he'd win. But something about this pulled at his spark. She was trying so hard. Giving it her all. And from the determined look on her face she really believed she would win. He vented as he mentally prepared himself.

He made his steps smaller and more labored. And added a noise like he was truly struggling. Then he stopped altogether. "Gaw! No! Your Maximal strength is too much. I cannot fight it!" he slowly got down onto his knees as to not crush her. She got off his leg but soon grabbed onto his servo.

"You no win!" she cheered as if spurred on by his acting.

"Gah! No!" he fake snarled. "I cannot take it!" With that he dramatically collapsed forward onto the floor. As if in defeat.

"Yay! I do it!" he heard her cheer above him. "Maximwal beat bad Pwedacon!" He rolled his optics but remained still. Then what she did next warmed his spark. She lightly shoved his shoulder. Not that she was able to budge him at all. "Dinobwot?" she questioned. "You ok?"

That was when he got up. "Yes Eri," he smiled down at her. "I am unharmed."

She beamed up at him and tried to hug as much of his chest as she could. He lightly patted her back. The moment was interrupted by a sniffle. He turned and was horrified to see Rattrap and Optimus standing in the control room. "Don't it just break yer spark?" Rattrap asked. "The mighty Dinobot taken down by a little toddler."

The raptor snarled as he easily picked up Eri in one servo. "I will rip out your optics and devour them!" he threatened and stomped forward. Eri squeaked and held onto the raptor. Thankfully Optimus broke it up before anyone got hurt or Eri saw anything too violent.

~*~

That left Optimus. The leader didn't have the same instincts as Tigatron and Airazor but he was in charge of a group of bots who sometimes acted like freshly made protoforms. So he wasn't necessarily a stranger to taking care of others. He still looked after Cheetor even though the young bot was finding his own feet. But he'd never been around a being this young since his own creation. And that had been a good time ago.

He laughed as Eri ran around his quarters marveling at everything she saw. She'd been upset when he told her they couldn't go outside so he'd distracted her by saying she could see his quarters. She seemed obsessed with each member of the crew and jumped at the chance to learn everything about them. Including seeing their personal quarters.

"What dis?" she asked pointing to perhaps the twentieth thing she could find.

"That's a globe of Cybertron," he patiently answered.

"What Cybwertron?" she asked trying to climb up onto his bed.

He lightly chuckled as he grabbed the back of her shirt and helped her up there. "It's our home world."

"Home world?" she looked confused.

"Home world means it's the place where we came from."

"Oh," she said. "Wha our home world like?"

"Actually Eri Cybertron is our home world. But Earth is yours."

"Rweally? Wha the difference?"

"Well, for one. Cybertron is made out of metal and holds beings such as us. The Maximals and Predacons. Otherwise known as Cybertronians. And Earth…" He tried to call back all his memories of what Eri herself had described and any historical records he'd read on the subject. "Well, Earth is home to your species. Known as humans. It is full of trees and flowers and rivers. I've also heard there are many animals."

She seemed to think about it. "How come?"

"How come what?" he inquired.

"How come I not from Cyberwtron like all you?"

"Hm, it's just how things happened Eri. We're not from Earth."

"Yeah," she swung her feet over his bed and looked sad.

"Is something wrong?" he sat down next to her.

"Are dere… More like me? More humans?" she asked.

"No. You're the only human on this planet. Or that we know of honestly."

"But that mean… I all alone. I diffwerent."

"Eri," he patted her shoulder and made her look at him. She had tears in her eyes.

"I all by myself! Like when Mama left! She neber come back!" By now she was full on crying.

"Eri," he gently said and picked her up. "It's ok," he gently patted her back and allowed her to cry on his shoulder. He knew very little of Eri's past. Or her mother. But he did know it was a sore topic with her. Being this young must've revived some of those old bad memories.

"I only human…"

"That doesn't matter," he told her. "Eri, we don't have to be the same species to be family. And I can assure you everyone in this base loves you deeply. You are family to us Eri."

"Rweally?"

"Yes," he smiled at her.

"But wha if you all not come back like Mama?"

The Prime honestly wondered what it was that happened to Eri's mother. He usually didn't like to pry into his team's personal lives if he didn't have to. But he had a feeling he should ask Eri what happened when she turned back to normal. "I swear to you Eri. We'll come back."

"You pwomise?"

"I promise," he told her. In return he got a hug and it was a long time before Eri let go.

~*~

Later.

"Looks like someone's all tuckered out," he laughed as he tried to put Eri into her bed. She clung partially to him and hung on.

"No," Eri yawned as she finally let go and sunk into the blankets.

"Yes. Don't worry. There'll be time tomorrow to do more exploring," he chuckled and tucked her in.

Her eyes fought to stay open. "I wanna s'plore now."

"Tomorrow," he assured her. "How about we compromise? You explore in your dreams and tomorrow we'll do real exploring ok?"

"K," she answered and yawned.

"Nighty night Eri," he said and went to get the light.

"Nighty night," she replied before slipping into a deep sleep.

The Prime had a smile on his face as he made his way to his own room.

~*~

A few hours later.

Eri got out of her bed. The rat sleeping in the room with her squeaked. "Not pway time," she told him. She grabbed a small blanket and dragged it along the floor as she went out the door. The rat made a small noise that might've been disapproval before following her.

He followed her as she went down some hallways and turned to a specific door.

It didn't take a code to open but swung open. She went over and got next to the bed. She tried climbing up herself but couldn't reach. The rat jumped up onto the bed and onto the being recharging.

Optimus let out a startled sound but woke up. "Hm?" he looked. "Mr. Squeakers what…" Then he looked over and saw Eri trying to get up. "Eri? What are you doing?" his voice was heavy from sleeping. He grabbed her by her shirt and lifted her up. "You should be asleep."

"I had a bad dream," she answered. "I sleep with you?"

"What kind of bad dream?" he inquired and sat her on his lap. The rat jumped onto a nearby table.

"I was all alone. I cried and cried but no one came." She sniffled from remembering.

"Oh Eri," he patted her arm. "It was just a dream. Come on. I'll."

"I sleep with you?" she repeated and looked up at him with tired, scared, sleepy, sad little eyes. The rat seemed to be on her side as he squeaked sadly.

What was he to do? He vented before relenting. "Alright. But just for tonight ok?"

She smiled and giggled. She brought up her blanket and he got comfortable lying back. She snuggled into him and he couldn't help but smile as Mr. Squeakers jumped up on him and rested near Eri. It wasn't long before snoring could be heard.


	4. Stranger Danger!

Eri sat in the control room on Rattrap's lap as they versed one another in cyber poker. "I win!" she cheered as the computer told them she'd won. For the fifth time in a row. "I can't tell if yer that good kiddo or my luck is that bad," the rat muttered.

They were interrupted as the alarms blared and Eri covered her ears. "What is it?" Optimus asked as everyone ran into the room.

"Looks like the Preds are makin' their move Boss-Monkey," Rattrap said.

"It's been what?" Cheetor asked. "Three days? It has to be a new record."

"Optimus," Airazor looked at him.

"Everyone prepare yourselves. Eri," he turned to the little girl. "I need you to listen very carefully," he picked her up and held her eye level.

"K," she looked at him in the eyes.

"We're going to play a game ok? I need you to go hide in your room. And no matter what you can't come out until one of us comes to get you. Do you understand?" he placed her on the floor.

"I understand," she nodded. "Wha 'bout you?"

"We'll be back in no time," he smiled at her. "Now go hide," he gently pushed her toward the hallway.

"Bye," she told them as she went down the hall. He waited until she was out of sight before he and the others went into the elevators and out to face the Preds. They couldn't risk the Predacons knowing about Eri's situation or her being injured in her state.

~*~

Shortly.

Eri whimpered as the ship rocked slightly. The alarms blared in the background. "What is it Mr. Sqweakers?" she looked at the rat on the floor. In return the rat only squeaked and jumped into her lap. She giggled as he snuggled up under her too large shirt.

~*~

Elsewhere.

The plan seemed to be going good so far. The spider pulled back a panel as he crawled into the ship. Now if the others could just distract the infernal Maximals he'd be able to hack into their computer systems.

Eri paused when she heard something. It sounded like how it did when the others were walking down the hallway. She didn't hesitate to go and open the door. "You back!" she jumped out into the hallway. She startled when she saw a bot she didn't recognize. "Who you?" she asked.

In return Tarantulas stood there frozen for a moment. He'd expected to encounter the human. She wasn't outside… But why in the inferno was she tiny? Like a sparkling? "My my," he said after a moment and looked her over. "What have we here?" He stepped forward.

Eri cried out and tried to turn and run. But he picked her up by the back of her shirt. She dangled in the air and flung around trying to escape. "Stranger danger!" she screamed remembering what the others had told her.

"Interesting," he lightly grabbed one of her arms and looked it over. "It's clear you're the same human. But what could have caused this?"

"Bwother!" she called out. "Uncles! Auntie! Help me!"

He cringed. "I could've sworn you've gotten louder. But this is intriguing." He thought about it. Only one thing could have done something like this. But why? And where was the object then? It couldn't be far. No doubt the Maximals would try to reverse this.

"Dinobwot!"

"Silence!" he told her. He couldn't think with her shouting. But what to do? He didn't have much time. So he'd have to prioritize. He could look for the artifact but the longer he was here the more likely the Maximals would catch him. No doubt they wouldn't leave her alone for long. He could take her and use this against the Maximals. They'd surely hand the device responsible over to get her back. Or he could keep her and run experiments. He'd lie and say he couldn't get into the systems. Megatron would never…

"Well look at this," a voice interrupted him. He turned and glared at the she-spider. "Megatron will want to know all about this."

Eri looked on in utter fear as she was held up in the air. "Oppie!" she screamed.


	5. A Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Man it's been a while.**

"Tarantulas! Blackarachnia!" Megatron barked over the comm systems. "Report!"

"We've… Run into an unexpected obstacle," came the cryptic reply.

"I don't have time for riddles you fool! Did you complete your task or not?"

"No, lord Megatron," the she-spider spoke up. "But we found something far more interesting you'll want to see."

He sighed. "Very well. Just get back out here now! We're leaving."

~*~

A few minutes later.

The Preds had managed to retreat to their own territory without the Maximals following. Not that they seemed very keen on leaving the base all that much which is what got Megatron's interest peeked in the first place. Finally the spiders seemed to catch up to them. They were carrying something…

"This had better be worth all of the trouble we went to. Yesss," he snarled at them. Days of well-crafted planning and if they didn't have anything to show for it.

"I do believe you'll love this Megatron," Tarantulas said as they transformed. The femme took the bundle off of his back. And all of the Predacons were shocked to see a small bundled up human. But it was far smaller than the human they were used to.

The tiny toddler looked at them all fearfully as she was wrapped up in webbing, some of it covering her mouth. She couldn't move or scream for someone to help her. And she was surrounded by those evil Predacons the Maximals had told her of! Eri was terrified.

"What the," Scorponok took up.

"Female fleshy-bot?" the wasp asked.

"This can't be the same human," Terrorsaur questioned.

"It matters not," Inferno said. "It will burn for the…"

Megatron slapped him quickly to shut him up. "I do believe this is a prize indeed. Yessss. Tarantulas, do you believe?"

"This was caused by an alien artifact?" the spider nearly cackled. "Why yes. Though I didn't have time to search for it."

"We were in a bit of a hurry," Blackarachnia stated.

"Hm," the Predacon leader appeared to think things over. "No doubt the Maximals will try to get their little human back yessssss. But wouldn't it be best for us if we used her for our own purposes?" He took Eri from the she-spider. "Short term we could use her to keep the Maximals in their place. Long term…" He let out an evil chuckled. "Wouldn't it be sweet if their own little Eri became a Predacon and turned against them?"

"Brilliant," Scorpnok said.

"All hail the royalty," Inferno stated.

"Don't humans… Take a while to grow?" Blackarachnia asked. Did they really want to deal with the human for that long? Could they before someone just offlined it? Or it offlined? They were feared Predacons. Not sparkling sitters.

"Perhaps… I will decide later what the best course of action but at least the day is ours," the leader stated. "Waspinator, Terrorsaur," he handed the bundle to them. The wasp held the little human like he was afraid of her. "I'll leave you both in charge of it. Under no circumstances are you to allow it out of your sights. And you'd better be able to keep her in our base under our control this time." He glared at them. "Don't dare fail me again."

"Y-yes Megatron," Terrorsaur stuttered and the wasp nodded. When Eri had first gotten there she'd escaped them thanks to the Maximals. But there were more of them now and with two of them watching her it shouldn't be hard. After all she was tiny. Which meant she'd be less trouble this time right?

~*~

Back at Maximal Base.

The Maximals found Eri to be gone and none of them were happy. They knew they had to get her back. No matter what. But they had to come up with a plan.


	6. Me Too

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **One more chapter after this.**

The two Predacons quickly found out that just because she was tiny didn't mean Eri wasn't a handful. If anything she was then times worse. She seemed to have no end of energy and unlike the adult version she was constantly asking questions, complaining, whining or demanding something. It was exhausting.

Terrrosaur somewhat thought it was comical seeing as the wasp was like a worried carebot running back and forth to get Eri nearly everything she wanted and keep checking on her. "Up!" Eri looked at him. "Up!"

Terrorsaur wasn't sure what to make of this. He was fine with the adult Eri. But this sparkling version. "Up!" she jumped slightly. He let out a vent before picking her up and lightly tossing her.

"Not too high terror-bot," Waspinator warned.

"I ain't gonna hurt her," he replied. She giggled as she cried out, "Higher! Higher!" Waspinator couldn't help the small smile that spread across his faceplate as he saw Terrorsaur lightly smile. He always wondered if Terrorsaur would be a good creator. Now he knew.

From then on Eri didn't have to walk as one of them carried her everywhere. They made sure to avoid the other Predacons seeing as none of them cared for sparklings, let alone one that used to be an ex-enemy. The only exception was Tarantulas who sought them out but they chased him off threatening to get Megatron involved. They shuddered to think what he wanted to do with her.

~*~

Later.

"I wanna sleep with you," Eri yawned later that night looking up at Terrorsaur.

"Wouldn't you prefer him?" the flier asked. "He has a teddy bear." Waspinator lightly hit him in the arm.

"I afwaid of the dark," she countered rubbing her eye. The wasp gave him a look. They both knew he had plenty of lights hung up in his room.

"Yeah," he picked her up and started heading toward his room. The wasp smirking after them. "Me too."

Waspinator took his time waking them up the next day. He couldn't help it. It was such a sweet picture. Eri was curled up with his bear-bot on top of Terrorsaur who had one servo loosely holding her to be sure she didn't fall off. The flyer had been snoring away.

"Terror-bot?" Waspinator inquired later that day as they watched Eri chase a butterfly around.

"What?"

"Think Megatron will let us keep femme-bot?"

"Depends… If he wants to keep her around." The both of them were silent for a time. None of them could predict Megatron that well. If he did decide to keep Eri around for the long haul then he'd want to teach her what being a Predacon meant. To lie, cheat, steal, fight… It wasn't the best life for a sparkling. Let alone under the tutelage of a nutcase like Megatron. And if he didn't want her around… They both looked at the little girl smiling as she missed the butterfly but kept going after it.

~*~

An hour later.

"Boss-bot," Rattrap looked up from the consol. "We got somethin'."

Optimus looked at the information before looking to the rat. He nodded. "Call the others."


	7. A Story To Tell

Optimus and the others didn't really know what to say. They stood there as Terrorsaur and Waspinator both looked uncomfortable. The wasp held Eri lightly and she was smiling at the Maximals. "Oppie!"

"Let's just get this over with," Terrorsaur nearly growled.

"Waspinator miss tiny female-fleshy bot," the wasp sounded sad as he handed her over to the red flier.

"Bye Waspy."

"Not to overthink this gift," Optimus stated. "But why are you…"

"Would you rather Megatron do whatever he wants with her?" Terrorsaur barked. "Just shut up and be happy Primal." He held her out toward him.

Eri gave him a smile as the Maximal leader gently took her. "Bye-bye Terror," she said. "See you soon."

"See ya kid. You weren't half bad." He transformed and the wasp followed suit as they both took off. Eri waved to them as they left.

"What I don't get," Cheetor said on their way back to the base. "Won't they be in deep trouble with Megatron? The Predacons just lost their leverage over us."

"Yeah, old Megs is probably gonna skin 'em for this," Rattrap added.

"Perhaps," Optimus looked at Eri as she road on his back. "They were considering her welfare over their own." The others all considered this fact. Maybe they'd underestimated the fliers.

"We'd better hurry," Airazor said looking to the sky. "It looks like there's about to be another nasty storm."

They all considered this. The last time it stormed.

~*~

Shortly.

"Are we sure this is gonna work?" Rattrap asked. They'd all hurriedly tried to recreate most of what happened the first time Eri was alone with the relic.

"No, but it's our best shot," Rhinox said. "It hasn't given any readings after what it did. So there's no way to know if this will work. But…"

"It happened once," Optimus stated. "It could happen again."

"Yeah, hopefully it makes her older and not even younger," the rat grumbled. "The little lady's a handful now. Let alone as a baby."

Before anyone could say anything else the lightening started near the ship. The sensors alerted them and they all stood at the ready as they waited for the relic to do something. Anything.

The storm raged on outside and they stood still. Nothing. The ship alerted them to the possible damages it might sustain but the relic just stood there like an ornament.

"What if," Cheetor was the first to start to question it when it finally happened. A harsh bolt struck the ship.

Rhinox and the others went to the console to try and see if any of Sentinel's protocols were harmed or anything. And that's when the relic began emitting a glow.

They all looked between it and Eri in their leader's arms. She didn't seem that interested in what was going on besides looking at the relic and saying, "Oooooo," at the fact it was glowing.

There was a bright flash of pure green light that engulfed the room. All of them had to reboot their optics after a moment to readjust.

"Oh man," Eri groaned. "Why do I have a massive headache?" She looked to see where she was. "Uh Optimus? Why am I in your arms?"

"Eri!" they cheered and surrounded her.

"You're back!"

"Back to normal!"

Dinobot snatched her up before she could blink. "Guys?" she asked. "Could someone please tell me what exactly happened? I remember this weird green light."

They noticed a white light started to engulf the room and they all turned toward the relic. The raptor snarled and shielded her from it as they watched the light completely cover the little tree. A second later it was gone. Along with the relic.

Eri was the one to break the silence. "Let me guess. Another weird relic thing happened?"

"Stargirl," Rattrap said. "Have we got a story to tell you."


End file.
